According to Inc. magazine, tech companies are feeling the pressure of rising costs in large coastal cities. Businesses and residents are leaving in search of opportunities in less expensive areas.
This is great news for Huntsville which, in
2018, saw new companies planting seeds, older companies deepening their roots, infrastructure
branching outward, and the quality of life flourishing as active lifestyles
demand more room to grow.
Inc. writer David Brown puts
Huntsville No. 2 among the Top Six “Attention-grabbing Cities for Tech
Start-ups.”
“NASA’s presence is largely responsible for the
Rocket City’s high rankings on the opportunity scale for engineers. The city
has also executed well in forging strong public-private partnerships and
promoting a thriving technology industry. Software development, electrical
engineering, and computer science are top fields, contributing to the city’s 309 percent year-over-year growth in tech
jobs.”
With so many sensational “gets” for Huntsville
and Madison this past year, the question is whether it is sustainable?
Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle and Chip Cherry, president & CEO of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, answer that question.
“We have spent the past 10 years with a focused, intentional plan to grow and diversify our job base, improve quality of life, and capitalize on the rich assets in Huntsville and North Alabama,” said Battle. “We’ve put an emphasis on workforce development in our schools. Our road projects are designed to keep traffic moving long into the future. We are making Huntsville more appealing and desirable for top talent to move here through parks, music and cultural amenities, greenways and bike lanes.
“We don’t plan just for the next year. We plan
for the next 10 to 20 years. For example, we created the Cyber Huntsville
initiative and worked with that volunteer group to land the State Cyber and
Engineering School in Huntsville. This program, along with many others in our
public schools and universities, will help prepare the tech workforce we will
need for the future.”
Cherry agreed that diversification is the key.
“A diversified base of businesses coupled with
a strong and diversified portfolio on Redstone Arsenal are key to ensuring that
we have a dynamic regional economy,” he said. “The community’s economic
development wins in 2018 will impact the community for generations to
come.
“The blend of new locations and expansions
will provide a broad range of employment opportunities as well as providing
business opportunities for local companies to grow.”
Here are the Huntsville Business Journal’s top Madison County business stories of 2018:
Mazda Toyota Manufacturing
Of all the big business acquisitions and developments launched in 2018, Battle said that if he had to focus on a single mayoral accomplishment in 2018, the Mazda-Toyota announcement dwarfs all others because of its impact on our economy year in, and year out.
“I’ve often said the hard work on a project
comes after the announcement, and the scale of this [Mazda Toyota] project was
no exception,” he said. “It brought enormous challenges from its sheer size and
scope. Clearing 1,200 acres, bringing in 7 million yards of dirt, putting a
building pad in place with a solid rock foundation, building roads, and all the
other challenges associated with a development – many times over.
“Fortunately, we worked in partnership with
the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing U.S. team. And we are able to navigate through
the challenges together and meet our deadlines. Now the building is ready to go
vertical and on track to produce cars in 2021. This plant will provide jobs for
4,000-5,000 workers, generational jobs that will impact our economy for decades
to come.”
Being built by Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA,
the sprawling site will produce 300,000 next-generation Toyota Corollas and a
yet-to-be-revealed Mazda crossover model annually, beginning in 2021.
Investment in the Mazda Toyota plant is being
split evenly between the automakers, allowing both automakers to respond
quickly to market changes and ensure sustainable growth.
“While there were a number of things that
placed our community in a strong competitive position to win this project,”
Cherry said. “In the end, it was the ability of our team, and our partners, to
be nimble and responsive that made the difference.”
Rocket City
Trash Pandas
In early 2018, the City of Madison approved up
to $46 million to build a baseball stadium, signaling minor league baseball’s
return to the Tennessee Valley.
Highly visible from I-565 off Madison
Boulevard at Zierdt Road, the ballpark will seat 5,500 baseball fans, and is part
of the Town Madison project.
The team – named the Rocket City Trash Pandas
in a voting contest – will officially move from Mobile to Madison after the 2019
baseball season and remain the farm team for the Los Angeles Angels.
Town Madison
Town Madison development, which held several groundbreakings
in 2018 after nearly 2 years of dormancy as $100 million in new road
construction was built to accommodate traffic flow to and from the development.
Town Madison will include 700,000 square feet
of office space; over 1 million square feet of retail space; 700 new hotel
rooms; over 1,200 luxury apartments; and 300 single-family homes.
“We’re very pleased to see groundbreakings
underway in the Town Madison space,” said Pam Honeycutt, executive director of
the Madison Chamber of Commerce. “When complete, it will be a true destination
spot, enabling families to spend the day enjoying entertainment, shopping and
dining.”
Last February, HHome2 Suites by Hilton was the first to announce it was breaking ground on a 97 all-suite extended-stay hotel as part of the section called West End at Town Madison. The hotel is scheduled to open early this year.
Wisconsin-based retailer Duluth Trading Co. broke
ground on its 15,000-square foot store in early December. The company is Town
Madison’s first retail partner and will open this year.
As part of The Exchange at Town Madison, local
developer Louis Breland broke ground last April on a 274-unit luxury apartment
complex called The Station at Town Madison. It is slated to open in the summer.
In late May, Breland confirmed the development
of a 150-room Margaritaville Hotel adjacent to the ballpark. It is set to open
in 2020.
Madison Mayor Paul Finley said,
“Margaritaville is an international brand known for high-quality and fun
projects. Not only will this hotel attract guests from across the region, but
it will add multiple new dining and entertainment options for Madison
residents.”
The Heights and The Commons at Town Madison will
provide a mixture of affordable single-family and multifamily homes, townhomes,
spacious luxury apartments, and condominiums around a village square. Home
prices will range from $250,000 to $500,000.
MidCity Huntsville
Certain to take significant shape throughout 2019, MidCity Huntsville is a
dynamic 100-acre experiential mixed-use community right in the center of
Huntsville. When finished, it will consist of a
series of interconnected spaces and gathering places.
MidCity
will feature dining, entertainment and recreation from names such as REI Co-op,
Wahlburgers, Rascal Flatt’s, and High Point Climbing and Fitness.
Already
in operation is Top Golf, a sports entertainment center with climate-controlled
golf-ball hitting bays, a full-service restaurant and bar, private event spaces
and meeting rooms; a rooftop terrace with fire pit, hundreds of HDTVs, and free
wi-fi.
The
development will also offer bike and walking trails, a park, an 8,500-seat
open-air amphitheater, and The Stage for outdoor music and entertainment.
Area 120
is a science and technology accelerator with some 200,000 square feet of space
for R&D and startups.
The Promenade with its hardscaped space will accommodate
local farmers markets and Huntsville’s growing food truck fleet. You will also
find luxury apartments and a hotel.
GE Aviation
Two years ago, GE Aviation announced it had
almost cracked the code to mass producing the unique ceramic matrix composite
(CMC) components used in jet propulsion engines, and when they did, the company
would build two facilities in Huntsville to produce them.
Last May, GE Aviation announced they will open
a 100-acre factory complex, destined to be the only location in the U.S. to
produce these ultra-lightweight CMC components, which can withstand extremely
high temperatures.
Investment in the project is expected to reach
$200 million. GE Aviation currently employs 90 people at the Huntsville site
and is expected to reach 300 at full production.
Facebook
Facebook will invest $750 million into a large-scale
data center in Huntsville that will bring an estimated 100 high-paying jobs to
the area.
The Huntsville City Council gave unanimous
approval for Facebook to purchase 340 acres in the North Huntsville Industrial
Park for $8.5 million. They began construction on the 970,000-square-foot
facility in late 2018.
“We believe in preparing our community for the
challenges ahead,” said Battle. “Our Gig City initiative to provide city-wide
high-speed connectivity is an example of that.”
The Downtown
Madison Sealy Project
When the City of Madison announced that
changes to the west side of Sullivan Street between Kyser Boulevard and Gin
Oaks Court would pave the way for more commercial/retail space, it marked the
beginning of a long-term improvement and expansion project for downtown Madison
that would pick up steam in 2018.
Known as the Downtown Madison Sealy Project,
it is the latest in a series of mixed-use developments about to hit downtown, extending
from the east side of Sullivan Street to Short Street.
The city is making improvements to accommodate
the 10,000 square-foot development which includes 190 upscale apartments and
more than 10,000 square feet of retail space.
GATR
Technologies
In April, Huntsville-based GATR Technologies
announced it would be quadrupling its production capacity in Cummings Research
Park to nearly 100,000 square feet.
The inflatable portable satellite innovator was
acquired by Cubic Mission Solutions in
2016 and has grown from 80 employees in 2016 to 157 in 2018. GATR is
projected to employ more than 200 people by October 2019.
GATR will soon be delivering systems by the thousands
to the U. S. government, military, and any entity that benefits from deployable
communications, such as in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
Electro Optic
Systems
In June, Electro Optic Systems announced it
will build its flagship production facility at on Wall Triana Highway in
Huntsville.
The Australian aerospace technology and
defense company expects to hire up to 100 fulltime employees in its first year and
is scaled to grow to at least 250 employees quickly.
EOS has been producing software, lasers,
electronics, optronics, gimbals, telescopes, beam directors, and stabilization
and precision mechanisms for the military space, missile defense, and surface
warfare sectors for more than 20 years.
BAE Systems
BAE Systems, the third-largest defense
contractor in the world, broke ground on a $45.5 million expansion of its
existing facilities in CRP in July. The growth is expected to create hundreds of
jobs.
The new 83,000-square-foot facility is the
first phase of a multi-phase growth plan to expand its existing offices on Discovery
Drive and develop a new state-of-the-art manufacturing and office space
facility in CRP to increase their capacity. An unused adjacent 20-acre lot will
provide room for yet more expansion soon. Construction of the new building is
expected to be complete in 2019.
Radiance
Technologies
Employee-owned defense contractor Radiance
Technologies broke ground in July on their first comprehensive headquarters in
Huntsville.
The new 100,000 square foot building in CRP
will, for the first time, allow the company’s 300 employees, all of whom have
operated at remote locations in Huntsville since 1999, to collaborate under the
same roof as they provide innovative technology to the Department of Defense,
NASA, and national intelligence agencies.
South
Memorial Parkway Expansion
The short but significant widening and
redesign of the main line of South Memorial Parkway caused many headaches for
residents and business owners over the past 2½
years, but in
late July, that stretch between Golf Road and Whitesburg Drive officially
re-opened.
The $54 million project opened a gateway of uninterrupted
traffic through South Huntsville, providing easier accessibility to South
Huntsville businesses, schools, and residential areas.
“South Parkway being fully open is a
game-changer for businesses and drivers in South Huntsville,” said Claire
Aiello, vice president of Marketing and Communications at the
Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce.
Looking to
2019
“Our objective has been to build on the
community’s traditional industries such as aerospace and defense, while creating
more opportunities in the semi-skilled and skilled sectors of the economy,”
said Cherry. “We excelled in all of these areas in 2018. The year will go down
in the record books as among the most vibrant economic development years in our
history. The companies that selected our community for their new location
or expansion will create over 5,400 new jobs and invest over $2.7 billion in
new buildings and equipment. These investments and jobs will have a
profound impact on our quality of life for decades to come.”
“Cummings
Research Park is now at 91 percent occupancy,” said Aiello. “We are making
a big focus on new amenities for employees at CRP to keep them engaged and to give
them things to do in the park besides work. That will be something to look forward
to in 2019.”
And according to Battle, “2019 is going to be
a good year. Let’s just keep it at that!”
